Uncut Gems Podcast

In this episode of the show our trip through buddy cop movies of the 80s continues with the 1987 Dragnet . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how this movie did not after all originate as a potential vehicle for Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi even though it looks like could have, how it spoofs the police procedural genre in ways that is closer to Zucker-Zucker-Abrahams m...

In this penultimate episode of our now long-running Mike Nichols Marathon, we are touching base with Closer . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about Mike Nichols revisiting his dramatic comfort zone and rediscovering the same energy that led him to direct Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Carnal Knowledge , a handful of substantial changes the movie made to Patrick Ma...

In this episode of the show we are officially beginning the Summer of Action where we will spend the next three months talking about 80s action movies, some iconic and some less so. And we begin this journey with a whole month of buddy cop action movies that took hold of the box office in the mid-80s. Our first conversation is about the Peter Hyams-directed Running Scared where you can hear us tal...

In this episode of the show we are closing both our June with John Landis comedies and the entire Spring of Comedy as well with an absurdist gem from the middle of the decade, Three Amigos . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how it was demonstrably new for Chevy Chase to appear as a part of an ensemble, how Steve Martin smuggled a lot of Monty Python-esque absurd come...

In this bonus tie-in show we are augmenting our June trip through John Landis comedies of the 80s with a conversation about his biggest hit of the decade, the Eddie Murphy-starring Coming to America . Over the course of our chat you will hear us talk about Eddie Murphy's brightly shining star and what this movie meant for his career and how it was a lifeline thrown to Landis who had just emerg...

In this episode of the show we are continuing our June trip through John Landis comedies of the 1980s with the 1985 effort titled Spies Like Us . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how, much like many Aykroyd-written comedies, this one also originated as a potential vehicle for Aykroyd and John Belushi, how it was morphed into something fit for Chevy Chase and how the...

In this episode of our 2026 series about iconic movies from the 1980s we are taking on, for a second month in a row, a movie directed by John Hughes. This time we are talking about his 1985 The Breakfast Club . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the many reasons why The Breakfast Club connect with the youth of the time, whether or not its messaging remains relevant or...

In this episode of the show our trip through John Landis comedies of the 1980s continues with Trading Places . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about this movie as less an example of the 80s-native edgy sketch comedy but rather an evocation of the spirit of classic screwball comedies in the style of Frank Capra and Howard Hawks. We talk about the chemistry between Dan Aykr...

In this episode of the Mike Nichols Marathon we are taking a look at one of the last major works Nichols left behind, his made-for-HBO adaptation of Tony Kushner's eponymous play Angels in America . Over the course of our conversation about this dense piece of filmmaking you will hear us talk about the genesis of this miniseries as a two-parter that Robert Altman was supposed to direct at one...

In this episode of the show we are officially diving into the third and final month of our Spring of Comedy where we are going to talk about John Landis-directed comedies of the 1980s. And we can only begin this journey by donning our G-Men suits and sunglasses to talk about The Blues Brothers . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the long and eventful history of how th...

In this episode of the show our May excursion through the sex comedies of the early 1980s comes to a close with a chat about Revenge of the Nerds . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the way in which this movie fits this microgenre, how it traverses its landscape with such brashness that it makes Porky's look subtle and nuanced and its success still suggests that t...

In this bonus tie-in podcast we are adding a little bit of class to our month-long journey through the sex comedies of the 1980's as we discuss the Amy Heckerling-directed Fast Times at Ridgemont High . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how this movie elevated teen comedy and became a staple hangout among the youth of the time, how it works well together with othe...

In this episode of the show we are reaching once more into the honeypot of sex comedies from the early 1980's and this time we are discussing Private School . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how this movie is a spiritual successor of a movie titled Private Lessons and whose origins distantly connect to the erotic franchise Emmanuelle , how it once more functions...

In this episode of the show our trip through sex comedies of the 80s continues with Zapped! Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how this movie originated as something much more tame and got spiced up in response to the success of Porky's , how it fits in the microtrend of telekinesis movies and essentially plays as a take on Carrie with a teenage boy at the center a...

In this episode of our 2026 series about iconic movies from the 1980s we are taking a close look at the 1986 Ferris Bueller's Day Off . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the film's sprawling legacy and seemingly ironclad fan appeal, how many critics of the time saw it as a feelgood hangout and how it added to John Hughes's catalogue of coming-of-age filmma...

In this episode of the show our show the May voyage through 80s sex comedies with something a bit classier on this occasion as we discuss the 1983 Risky Business . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how this movie fits into the short-lived trend of sex-tinged coming-of-age movies coming out of Hollywood at this time and how it functions as a continuation of a deeper co...

In this episode of our ongoing Mike Nichols Marathon we are talking about the 2001 made-for-HBO movie titled Wit . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the circumstances that led to Mike Nichols moving to the small screen, how HBO spearheaded the shift in appreciation of made-for-TV productions and how a one-woman stage production was transcribe to the screen with the he...

In this episode of the show we are starting our brand new miniseries of May 2026 (all under the umbrella of the Spring of Comedy) where we will be looking at 80s sex comedies. Therefore, it is only prudent to start at the beginning of the trend, so here we are discussing the 1981 Porky's . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about this movie being a coming-of-age nostalgi...

In this episode of the show we are closing our bumpy journey through Robin Williams comedies of the 1980s with one of those movies that truly epitomizes the tagline of our podcast, the 1986 Harold Ramis-directed Club Paradise . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the many reasons why this movie isn't talked about at all, how it was supposed to be a vehicle for Bill...

In this episode of our Patreon-exclusive monthly bonus series we are tying into our April conversations about Robin Williams-starring comedies of the 80s with a discussion on arguably the most iconic role of his from that time, the 1987 Good Morning Vietnam . Over the course of our chat you will hear us talk about this movie finding success on the back of its balance between Robin Williams's c...

In this episode of the show our conversations about Robin Williams in the 80s take a different colour as we pay a visit to his 1984 outing in Paul Mazursky's Moscow on the Hudson . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us wonder how Robin Williams ended up starring in this movie, if it was an attempt at restraining his energy or rather a genuine effort on his part to escape the man...

In this episode of our 80s Icons series we are taking a look at the 1982 Tootsie . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us try to figure out what made this movie so successful, how it fits as a hinge piece connecting the 70s and the 80s and how it hides a nuance conversation about complex dynamics between genders and how easy it is to warp it and misrepresent it. We also comment on th...

In this episode of the show our April journey through Robin Williams-starring 80s comedies continues with a discussion about the 1983 The Survivors . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the disconnect between what the filmmakers wanted to achieve with this movie and how the audiences rejected it, as well as how some critics did see what the movie actually wanted to be....

In this episode of our ongoing Mike Nichols Marathon we are entering the 21st century with his sex comedy What Planet Are You From? Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk at length about the many ways in which the production of this movie turned into a disaster, look behind the curtain to see what possibly drove Nichols to sign on to direct it and how it was unsalvageable for ma...

In this episode of the show we are embarking on our month-long jaunt through the 80s comedies starring Robin Williams and we begin therefore with the 1980 Robert Altman-directed Popeye . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us try to make sense of how this movie came together, what forces were needed to drive this movie towards release and even how much conflict behind the scene this...